Ranthambore Park reopens for tourists with stringent rules

The Ranthambore National Park (RNP) is all set to reopen for the season on October 1 albeit with enforcement of newer and stricter guidelines and regulations. So if you are all set to spend the long weekend (October 1-5) in Ranthambore, mind your actions, else your entry in the park will be banned as you will be under surveillance.

Y K Sahu, field director, said, “We are all prepared to handle the rush and have made adequate arrangements. The park nature guides and the staff have just gone through their re-orientation program. A special team has been deployed to ensure there is no crowding in any zone. The system of booking and regulating movement in the park will be strictly monitored. Any violations would be strictly dealt with.”

At any given time, only 20 canters and 20 gypsies will be allowed to go in the park. And in order to ease the traffic one more route has been added to the existing nine. Earlier, there were nine routes, five in the main park and four in the periphery. In order to ease the rush and ensure there are maximum eight vehicles in a zone or maybe less at a particular point, one more route has been added in the scenic eco-tourism zone in the plateau area. So, route number 6-10 now would be in the Sawai Mansingh sanctuary and Kualji area. Owing to the long weekend, all the zones are packed.

Among other things, crowding around a tiger is strictly forbidden. In order to check littering in the park by the tourists, eatables, especially packets of chips and plastic, is banned in the park. If any guide is reported breaking a rule, his license would be cancelled and if a vehicle is reported to be rash in the park, its entry in the park would be banned.

The RNP is booming with a tiger population of 59 (adults and cubs) that is the largest number of tigers so far in the history of the park. And after regulation and check on illegal grazing this monsoon, the habitat is good. So go and enjoy your break in nature but ensure that it’s not your last trip to the RNP.